Water dispenser for poultry



Dec. 28, 1948.

R. s. KOFFORD WATER DISPENSER FOR POULTRY Filed June 50, 1947 INVENTOR.

A TT ORNE Y Patented Dec. 28, 1948 UNITED STATES "PATENT. fliFF..liCi-E WATER DISPENSERYF'ORTGULTRY Reed -S. Kofford, Van Nuys, Calif.

Application Juneau, 1947, Serial No. 758,139

6 Claims. (01. nip-72.5)

This invention relates to a drip cup supporting means in a water dispenser for poultry, selfclosing drinking jets, the principal object being to provide a simple drip cup to enhance the sanitary conditions in poultry houses and yards.

Another object of the invention is to dispose in a more satisfactory manner of the drip water which would otherwise tend to make poultry watering places unsanitary or when collected go down the drain. In the present invention any water drippage from a jet during its retraction by the beak of a fowl and/or faulty valve is preserved in a pan or cup accessible to a fowl for subsequent drinking.

Another object of the invention is to provide a drip cup support adapted to be installed upon present day, self-closing drinking jets either with without modifying such structures.

A further object of the invention is to provide as a new article of manufacture a sanitary drip cup supporting means attachable to conventional poultry watering apparatus which is easy to install and inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a vertical midsection of the device showing a complete drinking unit attached to an overhead supply pipe, only a fragment of the latter being shown. The flow-controlling valve is shown closed in full lines and open in dotted lines.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the overflow cup separately and on a smaller scale than in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a partly elevational and partly midsectional view of a slight modification of the upper portion of the structure shown in Fig. 1.

Referring in detail to the drawing and describing first the form of the device shown in Fig. 1, a fragment is shown of a horizontal overhead supply pipe 5 having tapped through its lower side a circular screwthreaded aperture 6 into which is threaded the frustoconical, screwthreaded valve body I. Said valve body has through it the axial passage 8 which is somewhat greater in diameter than the valve stem Ill which extends longitudinally through it and projects somewhat from both its ends, the upper end of said stem having a head I l, somewhat larger in diameter than said passage. Said stem [0 carries at its lower end a drip head I2 which fits loosely in a diametrical enlargement of the lower end of the passage or bore 8. As the water oozes out around said head it forms a suspended drop I4 which the fowl withdraws into its bill, as is well known in the art to which this invention pertains.

The invention pertains more particularly to the cup or receptacle l5 and its suspending rod I6, said rod having a horizontally extending upper end portion I1 which is looped into an annular groove I8 provided for it around the lower part of the valve body I.

As more clearly shown in Fig. 2 the looped portion ll of the wire suspending rod [6 has an inner run 20 and an outer run 2i, the latter run having an outcurved portion 22 enabling the spring-on loop to conform better to the circular outline of the valve body around which it is sprung. The lower end portion of the Wire 16 is shown with a horizontal run 23 terminating in a downwardly directed end portion 24. Said portion 26 passes through an apertured indentation 25 in the center of the bottom of the circular cup IS, the bottom recess created by said indentation being filled with solder or a spot weld 26 (Fig. 1) to secure the wire to the cup.

In. Fig. 3 is shown a modification wherein a hexagonal nut 30 is screwed onto the valve body 1, said nut clamping the wire loop 11 between itself and the hexagonal head 3'2 at the lower end of said body.

It will be observed that, in both forms of the invention an upwardly facing shoulder means is provided in an underlying relation to the resilient wire loop I! that grips the valve body.

I claim:

1. In a water dispenser for poultry, an overhead water supply means including a body attachable to the lower side of a horizontal supply pipe and having a vertical valve controlled water passage through it, said body having horizontally grooved opposite side portions, a drippage cup, and a wire support for said cup having a loop with side runs engageable with said grooves to support said cup vertically below said grooved body.

2. The subject matter of claim 1, and said wire having an open end which renders it insertable in an endwise manner into the grooves of said body.

3. In a water dispenser for poultry, a water conducting, valve controlled body attachable to an overhead water supply means, said body having upwardly facing shoulders on opposite sides thereof, a drippage cup, and a wire support for 3 said cup having in it a loop with side runs supported by said shoulders.

4. The subject matter of claim 3, and said loop having an open end which renders it disposable astride said body above said shoulders.

5. In a water dispenser for poultry, a water conducting, valve controlled body attachable to an overhead water supply means, said body having a head or diametrically enlarged lower end portion, a drippage cup, a wire support for said cup having a looped upper end portion encompassing said valve body above its said head, and a nut screwed onto said body in a position to clamp said loop between itself and said head.

6. In a water dispenser for poultry, a water conducting valve, controlled body attachable to an overhead water supply means, said body having a head or diametrically enlarged lower end portion, a sheet metal drippage cup, a wire encompassing said lower end portion of said body above its said head and extending downwardly therefrom to said cup and having a vertical lower end portion which extends through an apertured upward indentation in the bottom of said cup, there being a body of solder underlying said indentation and securing said wire thereto.

REED S. KOFFORD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number I Name Date 926,538 Bandy June 29, 1909 1,481,365 Hegel Jan. 22, 1924 1,918,566 Sadleir July 18, 1933 

